Spit Bridge

Sydney Morning Herald

Friday January 4, 2008

Bruce Elder

The Spit presents the same vexing challenge as Wisemans Ferry. It seems that when a bridge engineer is confronted with low-lying land on one side of a watery expanse and steep, sometimes sheer, cliffs on the other, there are only two alternatives: put it in the "too hard" basket (hence Wiseman's Ferry) or build a very low-lying bridge and drive everyone mad by opening it regularly to let sailing boats with tall masts pass through.

Inevitably drivers from Seaforth, Manly and the northern beaches complain bitterly and dream of a decent bridge - one that will preferably go straight from Mosman Junction to Seaforth but, in fairness, the bridge never opens in peak hour and during the week its opening times are restricted to 10.15am, 11.30am, 1pm, 2pm, 2.45pm, 7.30pm and 8.30pm, with a traffic delay of about five minutes.

The way to experience the bridge is simple. Park on the Mosman side and start walking towards the bridge. Pause in the Spit Reserve at the triangular sculpture filled with rocks which is known as the Lucinda Memorial Sculpture. It was unveiled by former governor-general Sir William Deane in 2000 and commemorates "the Centenary of Australian Federation".

A plaque explains: "Standing in an assemblage of 2001 rocks from all over the Commonwealth of Australia, the sculpture symbolises the paddlewheel steam yacht Lucinda, on board which Samuel Griffith, Edmund Barton and other delegates to the 1891 National Australasian Convention revised a draft Constitution Bill while cruising in Broken Bay, Pittwater and here in Middle Harbour." Did they have to wait for the bridge to open? No. The first bridge at the Spit wasn't built until 1924. Before that anyone wanting to "bridge" the water from The Spit to Seaforth and Clontarf had to make the journey by punt. If you walk across the bridge and go to the park at the north-eastern side, you will notice that in 1942 the Manly Historical Society erected a plinth which explains the early "bridging" history. It is now so faded it is almost impossible to read. It looks as though it says "Ellerys Hand Punt started here 1850, Govt Punts Hand 1888, Steam 1889-1924 Old Road to Manly Started Nearby".

Opened in December 1924 by the premier, Sir George Fuller, the first Spit Bridge was a cumbersome, supposedly temporary, timber structure with a central section which was raised to let tall-masted vessels through. The present bridge replaced the timber bridge in 1958. There's a delightfully simple brass plaque on the bridge which reads "DMR 1958".

Find a spot and wait for it to open. There is something wonderfully archaic about listening to the warning bell clanging, hearing the traffic grinding to a halt, watching the gates lowering, and then being amazed as one or two small yachts with high masts hold up hundreds of vehicles and cause such disruption on the road above.